criterion vii innovations and best practices 7.pdf · criteria vii innovations and best practices...

Nagindas Khandwala College Re-Accreditation Report

205

Criterion VII

Innovations and Best Practices

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned”

Peter Marshall


206

Criteria VII

Innovations and Best Practices

7.1 Environment Consciousness

7.1.1 Does the Institute conduct a Green Audit of its campus and

facilities?

Yes. The College conducts a Green Audit of its campus and facilities. The

audit is done in three phases.

Pre-Audit:The scope of the audit is defined. Various initiatives

during the academic year are confirmed.

Audit: The College has been conducting Green Audit since July 2011,

on a yearly basis.

Post-Audit: The College (Internal Green Audit Team) reviews

environment related initiatives that are implemented. It formulates the

action plan for the next academic year in order to have better

environmental sensitization.

7.1.2 What are the initiatives taken by the college to make the campus

eco-friendly?

The following are the major environmental initiatives undertaken by

the College.

Energy Conservation

Implementing energy saving techniques is ensured that the lights and

fans are switched off by floor peons and staff after completion of the

last lecture of the day. Air-conditioners in staff room switched on at

08.45 a.m. and switched off when the faculty moves to lecture rooms.

Further, all the A.C.s are with Five star rating in Power saving.

Classrooms are made with sufficient cross ventilation and light so that

the use of electricity can be minimized. This shows the institution‟s

commitment towards energy conservation.

Use of Renewable Energy

The College is planning to install solar panel.

Water Harvesting

The College is contemplating installing the water harvesting. The

drinking water and the washroom water in the campus is being

analysed by the Microbiology department once in a semester.

Check Dam Construction

Not Applicable


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Efforts for Carbon neutrality

The College makes the student aware of the Carbon Credits, Carbon

Neutrality; its advantages etc as a curriculum in the subjects of

Foundation course and Environmental Studies in the first and second

year programmes. Projects/assignments are also given to students

based on topics like India‟s Carbon Credit policy, Earnings from

Carbon Credit. Industrial waste, e-waste etc.

Plantation Various trees are planted and maintained to keep the campus green.

Hazardous waste management

There are no hazardous chemicals used in the college laboratory. The

minimal wastage is drained after reasonable treatment so as to make it

non hazardous.

E-Waste management

Non-working computers, monitors and printers are discarded and

scrapped on a systematic basis. If some parts are useful, in other

systems they are kept aside for future use.

Above all, The Ministry of Earth Science and ICSSR sponsored

International Conference on Society, Politics and Climate Change

was organized by the College in 2012. The conference was attended by

eminent international delegates and resources persons who discussed

climate related issues and presented papers on the varied subthemes.

7.2 Innovations

7.2.1 Give details of innovations introduced during the last four years

which have created a positive impact on the functioning of the

College.

Academic Innovation

Bridge Courses have been started for students moving from HSC to

Degree College and for the students enrolling for PG Courses.

Remedial teaching and intensive coaching is offered to students who

need extra and special attention. Enrichment courses like personality

development programme and English speaking courses are conducted

to improve students‟ personality.

Feedback System

Student feedback is taken for all the courses B.Com, B.A. and all Self-

financing at random. This feedback is collected on a regular basis on

quality of education, provision of resources etc. Students‟ feedback are

analysed and improvement plans are initiated to enhance quality of


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education. The feedback is discussed and reviewed between teachers

and the Principal in a confidential manner. Weak points are analysed

and corrective actions are taken. Students can also give their feedback

through the suggestion boxes placed in college premises.

Certificate Course on Online Information Sources, Tools and

Techniques (COIST)

The Library and Information Centre of our College has started a

Certificate Course on the theme Online Information Sources, Tools

and Techniques (COIST). It is a short-term programme specifically

designed for research scholars and post graduate students of any

college or university. The course helps the research scholars to learn

some crucial and essential online information sources and online

information tools and techniques.

Quality in teaching, learning and evaluation process

Focus is given to improve the quality of education and evaluation. The

faculty are encouraged and sponsored to attend various

seminars/conferences held in different colleges across the country so as

to inculcate the best practices in education and for their self-

development. Although no structured programme exist to estimate the

efficacy of faculty participation an informal process exist wherein

participants debrief the entire faculty on their experience and take

away from attendance at the seminar. The management also sponsors

participation in seminars abroad. Principal Dr (Mrs) Ancy Jose, Vice

Principal Dr G.K.Kalkoti and Dr. Moushumi Datta visited USA in

October, 2011 to participate in the 40th

Annual Mid- Atlantic Regional

Association for Asian Studies (MARAAS) Conference held at

Princeton University in New Jersey, USA. The theme of the

conference was “Human Rights and Social Justice in Asia”. This visit

was totally sponsored by the management. The team visited Kings‟

College in New York City, Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania,

and George Washington University in Washington D.C. It was an

enriching experience with a realization that the world is truly a global

village.

Principal Dr. (Mrs.) Ancy Jose, Vice-Principal (Self – Finance) Ms.

Mona Bhatia, the faculty Dr. (Mrs.) Varsha Ainapure, Dr. Bharat

Pithadia and Mr. C.M. Amin visited three autonomous colleges in

Coimbatore to understand the benefits of Autonomy and to decide

whether to implement Autonomy in our College. The visit helped the

team to learn that autonomy enhances the quality of teaching and

learning and offers a better placement opportunity to students. It also


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made them realize that the institution should have the potential for

offering programmes of higher standards. This visit too was sponsored

by the management.

College Social Responsibility

Our College has adopted the policy of CSR- “College Social

Responsibility”. The College has started Social Cell in the year 2009.

Our aim is to bring a smile on the faces of those people and children

who are deprived of the basic needs in the society. White Leaf- an

association which is involved in social activities is engaged in several

community development activities.

Earn While You Learn

Every year five deserving students are provided employment

opportunities so that they can earn and pay for their expenses. Earn

While You Learn has received very good response from the students

and the plan is to increase the number of students in the next few

years.

Certification under ISO 9001:2008

Our College has become fully aware of the need for quality and

adopted ISO 9001:2008 to sustain and grow in this competitive world.

It is of utmost necessity to have uniform standards and compliance to

the same in order to facilitate our efforts to provide the best possible

education to our students. With this in mind our College went for ISO

certification in September, 2010. The Quality Manual was released on

31st May, 2010. The Internal Auditors training was held in June, 2010.

It was a training of two days and twelve faculty members successfully

completed the training. The first internal audit was held in July, 2010

followed by the first Management Review Meeting. Our College chose

TUV Nord- Germany‟s most reputed ISO certification body. The

certification audit was held in two stages. The first stage audit all our

documentation procedures were audited. In the second stage audit all

the main processes were checked and matched to the process

documentation as inlaid in the ISO manual. We got the certification

without any non-conformity. This in itself was an achievement with

everyone in the College contributing to this effort and the resultant

success.


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Internal Academic Audit

All the teaching staff members submitted semester plan for conduct of

theory and practical classes to their respective head of departments.

Monthly reports are collected from the teaching staff where in teachers

give information regarding coverage of syllabus during that particular

month. In case where syllabus was not covered as per schedule, the

teachers were accordingly advised to take adequate steps. At the end of

the semester (during the internal audit) the teaching staff submits the

monthly monitoring sheets to the respective heads of departments and

through the ISO Management Representative it is submitted to the

Principal who examines whether the entire syllabus has been

completed as per the initial planning and appropriate steps are initiated.

Quality Enhancement Circles

IQAC identifies different teams and prepares them as quality

enhancement circles. These teams conduct projects for improvement of

quality. The teams then offer their projects for external evaluation by

authoritative bodies for appraisal and awards. We applied to NCQM

(National Centre for Quality Management) and EET (Education Expo

TV) for awards to ensure that the policies and plans are properly

directed.

Formation of Quality Circles

Each Quality Circle session is a brainstorming session in which a topic

is focused and discussed where students put forward their views and

the members of the teaching faculty and the management respond to

the views and suggestions of the students so that resolutions to

challenges can be found and implemented.

To provide training of 6 man days per year

The institution also works out Competency Based Skill Matrix for

different levels vis-à-vis area of operation. Training needs based on

these competency needs and gaps observed are identified by the

Department Heads. These training attended are then entered in

Individual Training Record. The IQAC consolidates training needs and

arranges for its completion either through in-house or external

resources as considered appropriate. In addition to the above, teaching

staff also has to undergo training as stipulated by University / Board at

regular time intervals and also if new courses are introduced. The

effectiveness of training is evaluated by the IQAC after a gap of six


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months. This may be in the form of observing performance/output as

well as by the use of simple statistical techniques.

Perspective Plan for a Five Year Period

The College has prepared a Perspective Plan for the period of five

years commencing from the academic year 2008-2009 to the academic

year 2013-2014 by taking into consideration the quality indicators of

Seven Criterions determined by NAAC. In the preparation of the

Perspective Plan, the IQAC of the College has taken initiatives. Inputs

from all stakeholders, their expectations, management policies and

goals and objectives of the college are considered as a base for

formulation of the perspective plan. The draft of Perspective Plan has

been discussed, reviewed and approved in the IQAC meetings. Every

year IQAC devises a Perspective Plan in the beginning of the academic

year and also gives an account of the outcome achieved by the end of

the academic year.

Innovations in Library

The Librarian has been lecturing the students from vernacular medium

students to improve their language proficiency. The special collection

of short stories, essays, and other fiction books are being issued to the

students. More than hundred students are availing this facility.

The Library is linking e-books (which are available free of cost on

Internet) with their books. Any student accessing or checking the

books details in the OPAC (Library catalogue) can also avail the link

of e-books.

With the successful use of advanced mobile scanners, the stock

verification of the Library collection has become more effective and

less time consuming.

The Librarian, with the assistance of its staff, is providing consultancy

service to the Libraries of other colleges and universities.

The Library (comprised of Librarian, selected faculty and Library

staff) is handing the College‟s official website as well as Khandwala

Publishing House (an official publication unit of our College.

The Library is building an Institutional Repository which is named as

„Lekhak‟. The Lekhak is comprised of the bibliographic and abstract

level research papers published/presented of the faculty.

The Library is undertaking a national project called ICon-AD (Indian

Conference Abstracting Database). ICon-AD is an abstracting database

comprising the Abstracts submitted to the various international,

national and state conferences organised by Indian colleges,

universities, corporate firms, government agencies etc.


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Centre of Edu Vision

The College also has a Centre named “EduVision” for the visually

challenged students. This centre is used by the Federation for the

Blind”. Hence, the College reaches out to the community with its

services.

Management funded gratuity for the self-financed team

The Management has introduced a healthy practice of contributing to

gratuity fund for the staff appointed for Self-Financed Courses.

MKES Parivar Education Fund

MKES Parivar Education Fund is setup to provide financial

assistance to the children of the non-teaching staff to pursue

higher education.

Interface with the alumni

Two alumni in a month are invited to the college to share their

experience with the students.

Improvement of Infrastructure

The auditorium has been renovated with state-of-the-art equipment and

facilities. A separate examination centre has been assigned.

Involving students in research

The College has realized that knowledge accumulation and

assimilation are the two sides of the coin of higher education. The

College encourages the faculty as well as the students to imbibe

research culture by presenting research papers in national and

international seminars / conferences. Some of the post graduate

students from MA Economics and Geography streams have won

awards for their excellent paper presentation.


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7.3 Best Practices

1. Title of the Practice

Improving Teaching and Learning Process 2. Goal

To achieve the principles of the teaching / learning process which are

multi-fold. The principles on the basis of which this best practice was

decided was – to raise the curiosity of a student in a particular topic, to

encourage the students to question the obvious and to increase the

interaction in the class.

3. The Context

Rapid advancement in technology is one of the major issues that affect

the teaching/learning process. The facilitators find it difficult to keep

pace with the techno-savvy learners. Further there is rapid change

taking place in technology which aggravates the problem. Keeping the

audience captivated throughout the lecture is another challenge. The

facilitator is required to use a variety of tools to keep the learner

engaged in the learning process. Having access to a variety of tools all

the time may not be possible. Today knowledge is just a click away to

the learner; a challenge faced by facilitators is to keep pace with the

latest news and happenings.

The teaching/learning process is given immense importance in the

institute. The institute is as good as its students. The students are as

good as the teachers. The institute trains their facilitators continuously

to help them enhance their teaching abilities. The learning imparted to

the teachers is implemented in enhancing the learning experience of

the learner.

4. The Practice

The teaching /learning process starts with designing of a lecture plan

by the facilitator. The lecture plan is given in advance to the learners.

The facilitator initiates a discussion or tells a story or questions the

learners before defining the objectives. The objectives of the lectures

are defined to specify to the learner the learning outcomes. During the

lecture, discussions and questioning is encouraged.


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Holistic learning is encouraged through the continuous evaluation

system. Various forms of assessment are used for continuous

evaluation such as group discussions, assignments, PowerPoint

presentations, class test to name a few. Various co-curricular

activities are also organized for the learners. These activities give an

opportunity to the students to put their knowledge into application.

An aspect very unique about our teaching /learning process is the

freedom given to learners to share their views and ideas. Even ideas

that sound impractical are discussed and a proper explanation is given

to the learners why they cannot be implemented. The learner is the part

of the learning process rather than just a spectator of the same.

A major limitation of the teaching /learning process is the time

constraint. The facilitators have various ideas which they would like to

implement in their class, however due to paucity of time all of them

cannot be implemented.

5. Evidence of success

The evidence of success is visible, qualitatively as well as

quantitatively. The qualitative indicators are a more positive outlook

towards life, improvement in etiquettes and desire to understand things

rather than learning by the rot. The quantitative indicators for learners

who actively participate in co-curricular activities are that they show

improvement in academic performance. Students who have passed out

have done extremely well in the corporate world. Some students have

put their learning into application by starting their own businesses.

The results bring some prominent factors to light. Some of the factors

are that students when shown the right direction and given the right

encouragement can achieve the goals they desire. Holistic development

rather than only academic success contributes in creating socially

sensitive individuals which is a prominent requirement of educational

institute.

6. Problems encountered and Resources Required The non-availability or non-workability of technology is one of the

major problems encountered in the teaching learning process. Further,

encouraging discussions in the lecture becomes self-obliterate towards

its aim, at times. Questions posed by learners may not be to find an

answer to the problem but to test the knowledge of the facilitator. The

span of interest of the learners is very short. Teachers today have to


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play the role of an educator and entertainer combined, rather than just

an educator.

Resources in terms of finance are continuously required to upgrade

technology requirements. This is not available consistently. In a city

like Mumbai, space is another constraint. Activity based games cannot

be implemented due to paucity of space.

7. Notes The Academic Calendar is prepared before the beginning of the

academic year. This aids the facilitators and the learners in

understanding the time schedule for implementation of the learning

process. Dedicated teaching and non-teaching staff are the pillars of

strength of the teaching/learning process. Without a dedicated team,

success cannot be achieved. The principal with her dynamic leadership

style and constant guidance and support gives a prominent shape to the

teaching/learning process.

8. Contact Details Name of the Principal: Dr. Ancy Jose

Name of the Institution: Nagindas Khandwala

College

City: Mumbai

Pin Code: 400 064

Accredited Status: Reaccredited with „A‟

Grade

Work Phone : Fax: 022-28085424

Website: E-mail : www.nkc.ac.in

[email protected]

Mobile: 09820460079


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1. Title of the Practice:

Building innovative Library Facilities

2. Goal

The College aimed to implement innovative practices in the Library so

as to make it of International standards. Some of the activities to fulfill

this were to archive abstracts submitted to the organizers of the

conferences through ICon-AD (Indian Conference Abstracting

Database), which is an abstracting database. Creating a consultancy

service that serves the needs of the librarians of other colleges. Helping

the teachers, research scholars and the students to avail the excellence

information service from our Library Referral Service to the Library

Science professionals and teachers

3. The Context

Researchers need to refer to articles from authentic sources and the

authors will benefit if they get citations. Through one of the best

practices of the institution articles can be referred and the authors of

the articles in the repository will receive citations by Indexed

databases/journals. It acts as a link between user and the author of the

abstracts and connects them for further sharing of information or

intellectual discussion.

We feel, there is a need of sharing our skills acquired through various

professional activities over the time. The skills shared with other

Librarians help us understand the problems encountered by the

Librarians and, while giving solutions, we also learn a lot from them.

The queries received from the readers are analysed and based on the

required time limit, the service is catered to the readers.

4. The Practice

As a Participating Institute, any Indian organization of any kind/sector,

which had organized conferences and accepted abstracts for the same,

can contribute the abstracts to ICon-AD. The abstracts are archived

online using DSpace Open Source Software. The Library receives

queries from the Librarians via e-mail. The solutions to their

query/problems are intimated to them via e-mail. The Librarians also

visit the Library to have detailed discussion on the issue. The practice

helps the readers to know as where the information is located apart

from our Library‟s collection. The Librarian directs the readers to the


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adjacent college libraries, if the title is available in the same. The

books are procured under Inter-Library Loan facility.

The library has also started a certificate course for research scholars.

The research scholars need to know sources of information and also

the search techniques. Such information is available in many of the

open access full-text journals/databases online. Considering this, the

Certificate Course in Online Information Sources, Tools and

Techniques (COIST) is started. The course helps the research scholars

learn some crucial and essential online information sources and online

information tools and techniques. The course will enable the research

scholars to use the Internet more effectively and efficiently for the

research studies and any other academic pursuits.

5. Evidence of Success:

The Colleges which had organised conferences are sharing the

conference abstracts and the same is uploaded onto our website. The e-

mails received by the Librarians are regularly documented. There are

many Librarians of different Libraries are regularly contacting us to

avail our consultancy service. The evidence of the practice is the

increased number of referral queries. This also led to borrowing books

from other libraries on Inter-Library Loan basis.

6. Problems Encountered and Resources Required

The installation of the open source software and uploading the

abstracts on to the database is time consuming. Creating awareness

among the organizers of the conference is time consuming requires

regular follow-ups.

Some Librarians who get solutions on phone do not send their queries

via e-mail. Thus it becomes difficult to document their queries. The

consultancy service is offered with no monetary expectation

The referral service helps the readers, but the readers rely on the

Librarian to procure/ arrange the book from other Libraries. This

requires man power.



College

City: Mumbai


218

Pin Code: 400 064


Grade


Website: E-mail :

www.nkc.ac.in

[email protected]

Mobile: 09820460079

http://www.nkc.ac.in/


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1.Title of Practice

Improving Academic Research

2. Goal The goal of the practice was to achieve higher inclination towards

research among the faculty, through updating their awareness about

research and methods of conducting research. With the main aim of

providing training to the teaching staff so as to increase the quality of

education and research activities in the College.

3. The Context

Enhancement of research helps in increasing know-how of

contemporary issues. This results in enrichment of educational quality

percolating to students. With foreign university collaborations round

the corner, the quantum and quality of research needs a fillip. The

researcher has to be aware about the techniques first so that they are

able to increase research inputs to pedagogy. Staff members attended

only those training sessions that were mandatory as per University of

Mumbai. Training imparted to individual faculty is assessed through

Faculty Profile. Many conferences and seminars were also conducted

to imbibe research culture

3. The Practice The increase in research would lead to enriched education percolation

to students. Research activities are of immense importance in higher

educational institution. The College had decided to increase these

activities so that the students and stakeholders could benefit out of this.

The practice to be employed was of providing training to the teaching

staff so as to increase the quality of education and research activities in

the college. Initially, staff members attended only those training

sessions that was mandatory as per University of Mumbai. Hence, we

decided to take additional training man hours, which are recorded and

monitored for effectiveness. However, external training imparted to

individual faculty is assessed through Faculty Profile.

Year wise focus areas were defined and training held according to the

plans made. Training in these areas was necessary to build a research

environment among the staff. Moreover training needs of the faculty

were identified through Competency Skill Matrix.


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Areas of training that were conducted : “Personality Development by

Skyler Institute of Management Studies”, “Communication Skills by

Ms Sanjana Mishra and Ms. B.T. Sundari”, “Use of Web Tools by

Ravindra Dastikop, Dharwad University”, “Guidance for writing

Research Paper by Dr Kevin, Ex-Pro-Vice Chancellor, Kerala

University”, the batch size was identified as 50, “Computer training by

internal NIIT academy”, “Research Methodology in Social Science,

Development of questionnaire by Dr Kevin, Ex-Pro-Vice Chancellor,

Kerala University”, “Application of Knowledge by Jitendra Shah,

Faculty IIT”

Other University curriculum and assessment evaluation methods were

also included in the training like : “Credit based Grading System by S

K Raju, Member BOS, Dr Madhu Nair, Dean, Commerce, University

of Mumbai”, “Organisational Planning by Internal faculty, Dr

Kalkoti”, “Autonomy Process”

The analysis of the impact was possible as each faculty member

maintained an Individual training record of all internal training that

they have undergone in a prescribed format.

4. Evidence of success

Paper presentations in national and International conferences was 30 in

January, 2010 and the target is to increase to 45 (50% more) by the end

of the project in December 2012. Increase in academic research

activity by faculty.

Academic research activity by faculty has increased. Paper

presentations by faculty has increased more than the target of 50% (i.e.

from 30 to 51)

Papers published have also increased from 3 (on project start) to 40 (on

project closure).

The number of Ph.D holders were 07 (on project start). The number

increased to 11 (on project closure).

Funded research projects from recognized academic bodies are now

11. This is indicative of the qualitative enhancement of research

proposals and projects.


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5.Problems encountered and resources required

The problems were more in nature of finalizing the dates so that the

academic calendar was not disturbed. But as the academic calendar is

prepared well in advance with the participation of the departmental

heads, it was possible to overcome this hurdle after some consultations

and minor adjustments. As regards finance some of the workshops

were sponsored by the college management and some were UGC or

NAAC funded. Some workshops were in collaboration with

University.

Other alternatives like providing training on use of SPSS, new ICT

based knowledge, were analysed before arriving at the best way to

train the staff. Some workshops were conducted to develop soft skills

to the faculty, research methodology to used.

6. Notes

The UGC and academic bodies have given weightage to research in the

current plans. The teachers have to be encouraged to do research. Not

only should they be asked to conduct research but they have to be

informed and explained the methods of researching. Such proactive

solutions help in improving research in the country and at the same

time refining the research problems chosen, the work and project,

through best research techniques.



College

City: Mumbai

Pin Code: 400 064


Grade


Website: E-mail : www.nkc.ac.in

[email protected]

Mobile: 09820460079

The above three are the best practices which have contributed to the

achievement of the institutional objectives and have contributed to the

quality improvement of the core activities of the College.

criterion vii innovations and best practices 7.pdf · criteria vii innovations and best practices...

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